Instagram Eyes to Integrate NFTs into the Platform
NFTs are becoming increasingly more popular with each passing day. Anyone who uses the internet has heard about it at least once. That is especially true now because social media companies are integrating NFTs into their platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Instagram plans to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the platform soon. On Tuesday, the Meta Platforms Inc. CEO confirmed this at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
“We're working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” Zuckerberg said.
While Zuckerberg did not provide further details, he added that they would integrate non-fungible tokens into the company's photo and video sharing program. That is if the Instagram team can work out some technical issues.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated that his company was “actively studying” NFTs.
According to Casey Newton of The Verge's Platformer newsletter, Zuckerberg also stated that Instagram users would be able to mint their own (NFT) within the app. This capability will “hopefully” be in the coming months.
How does “NFTs mint” work on Instagram?
The Financial Times reports that Facebook and Instagram are about to pilot a feature. It says that the Meta platforms are “getting ready” for a feature that would allow users to use NFTs as profile photos. Moreover, they are preparing to work on a prototype that will allow users to mint fresh NFTs. Other Meta staffers discuss “starting a marketplace for customers to buy and trade NFTs.”
Instagram NFTs compete with the leading marketplace for trading.
Meanwhile, the announcement has spurred discussion regarding whose blockchain the NFTs will be implemented on. They are also discussing what payment mechanism to utilize to purchase them. And there's talk about whether Instagram will compete with Opensea, Rarity, and Nifty Gateway as a new NFT marketplace.
Meta's ability to monetize each photograph on a user's Instagram page as an NFT would be a major disruptor in the market. The said market is currently dominated by OpenSea, which uses the Ethereum (ETH-USD) blockchain.
“It's unknown which blockchain Instagram is likely to construct its NFT project on,” Mike Dickens, COO of Blockasset.co, told in response to the new revelations.
“However, for greater mass adoption and acceptance, they will need a blockchain with low fees for a greater user experience,” he added.
NFT in the Metaverse
NFT is a digital asset that portrays real-world aspects such as art, music, in-game goods, and movies. Basically, these digital assets are like physical collector's items in a digital form. They are bought and traded online, often using cryptocurrency, and they're usually encoded with the same software as many other cryptos.
Artists and content creators have a one-of-a-kind way to monetize their work through NFTs and Blockchain technology. For instance, artists no longer have to sell their work through auction houses. Instead, the artist can offer it as an NFT directly to the customer, allowing them to keep a bigger profit margin.
Artists can also include royalties in their software to receive a percentage of sales when their work is sold to a new owner. Because most artists do not receive subsequent revenue beyond their first sale, this is a useful feature.
NFT adaptation supports META's metaverse pursuit
Following the announcement of its NFT partnership, Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021. That indicates the company's commitment to developing its version of the metaverse. Vishal Shah, the company's head of metaverse products, indicated that Meta would enable NFTs.
“This will make it easier for people to sell Limited Edition digital objects like NFTs,” says Shah. Shah adds that people can also display NFTs in their digital spaces and even resell them to the next person securely.
Furthermore, Meta has created its own digital wallet, Novi. It allows users to “send and receive money internationally, instantly, securely, and without fees, using secure blockchain technology.”
According to Bloomberg, Meta plans to integrate its Novi digital wallet into its Instagram platform to test the purchasing and selling of NFTs. Facebook's head of financial services, David Marcus, said the company is “definitely thinking about” supporting non-fungible tokens with its Novi digital wallet (NFTs).
The monetization push could coincide with the launch of the company's Novi cryptocurrency wallet. That was greeted with criticism from US lawmakers during a test run earlier this month. Diem, the project's stablecoin, is now unavailable for use.
On Thursday, David Marcus, Facebook's head of payments and financial services, tweeted about the redesign. It would unify all of the company's payments and financial services businesses and products, including Facebook Pay.
In another hint of Facebook's infatuation with the metaverse, the company's shares began trading last December 1 under the ticker name MVRS.
NFTs gain popularity among Social Media Giants
Other social networking platforms have also begun to incorporate NFTs. Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) began allowing premium subscribers on iOS to upload an NFT profile photo in January. It will also add the feature to the company's Android app and website.
Following Twitter's lead, community networking site Reddit announced that NFT avatars were being tested on their website a few weeks later.
Meanwhile, pay-per-view portal OnlyFans announced in February that content producers would be able to use Ethereum blockchain-based NFT profile photos. As cryptocurrency and digital product offer become more popular, social media platforms will continue to look for new ways to monetize the metaverse.
Instagram's NFT Preparation Looms Amid Crypto-Crisis
Embracing NFTs might also help Meta gain more prominence in the metaverse. Metaverse, for those unaware, is a term that the firm has coined as a hazy concept of interconnected virtual worlds. That's akin to VR universes' promises in the 1990s and prior. It might potentially increase the value and importance of NFTs while also centralizing asset control.
NFTs are often criticized for their speculative worth; their prices are volatile, so they fluctuate dramatically. Furthermore, there is a lack of security when it comes to NFTs. They are routinely stolen despite assertions by some that guarantee ownership. Nevertheless, these assets will grow more valuable if existing tech chooses to support them.
Will You Buy Instagram's Collaboration NFTs?
It seems like every company on earth is planning to finally incorporate NFTs into their corporate strategy, and it's even funnier than the whole industry continues to crash during and after big announcements such as these. The trend used to be that large corporate partnerships in cryptocurrencies would bump the price up, and many speculated that insider information was frequently used to privately profit during and after the announcements of news such as this. Some think the collapse of the dollar during this tumultuous time is presenting too much downward force on the value of all cryptocurrencies, especially as the role of the dollar as a global reserve currency becomes increasingly questioned.
Perhaps this is all the more reason to invest in these NFTs, as you will potentially benefit or hedge your risk as the value and purchasing power of the dollar falls more and more with each passing day. Cryptocurrencies have always been seen as a sort of financial hedge against the dollar, but while they both fall, they certainly fall at different rates.
Will buying NFTs on Instagram buy you more Instagram followers, or will it turn you into a millionaire? Right now, both of these ideas seem ludicrous, but you really shouldn't be surprised if you think about the inevitable news over the next 10 years. Yes, someone out there, somewhere will have both of these happen because of some stupid NFTs! It's truly inevitable. Sure, it's absolutely a form of gambling, and should be considered as money you can always afford to lose as a baseline to start with.
Date: June 26, 2022 / Categories: News, / Author: Rich Drees
